1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a urinalysis system including a semiconductor device capable of wireless communication, a photo sensor, or the like, and a urinalysis method using the urinalysis system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A urinalysis mainly tests for kidney diseases, but also tests for various other diseases. Conventionally, a method of preparing a paper cup for urinalysis and dipping a test paper into collected urine to manually obtain a reaction appearing on the test paper is employed for urinalysis.
With urinalysis test paper, the following can be tested: protein in urine, urine sugar, ketone body, bilirubin, urobilinogen, occult blood, nitrite, pH, specific gravity of urine and the like. In recent years, with the development of information description, advanced networks are being built in the medical workplace. However, there is no technique to electronically connect such test results obtained manually. That is, information of the test results needs to be input to an information terminal by hand, which has hindered improvement in quickness and efficiency.
As an automation apparatus, an automatic urinalysis apparatus is known, which has a sensor unit that is provided inside a urinalysis tool including a waterproof container provided with an examination hole and a reagent portion, which seals the examination hole. The sensor unit includes a light receiving element and a light emitting element for optically detecting the degree of coloration of the reagent portion (see Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Patent Application No. H 5-18966).
However, with a method of soaking the urinalysis tool in a container containing a specimen for a certain amount of time and measuring the degree of coloration of the reagent portion each time, it takes a long time to process many specimens. Also, for every specimen, the urinalysis tool to which the reagent portion is attached, and the sensor unit need to be taken apart to replace the urinalysis tool with a new one.